2,624-year-old tree found in North Carolina

Some of these trees date back millennia. Image Credit: CC BY 3.0 On^ste82

Scientists have discovered one of the oldest trees on Earth in North Carolina's Black River swampland.

The incredibly old bald cypress tree was found by researchers who had been studying tree rings in the region as part of an effort to learn more about the climate history of the eastern United States.

The tree (Taxodium distichum) turned out to be one of the oldest non-clonal specimens in the world (meaning that it is a single tree as oppose to a colony of genetically identical plants).

A second bald cypress tree dating back 2,088 years was also found at the same swamp, suggesting that there could in fact be several other 2,000-year-old specimens in the region.

"Because we have cored and dated only 110 living bald cypress at this site, a small fraction of the tens of thousands of trees still present in these wetlands, there could be several additional individual bald cypress over 2,000-years old along the approximately 100 km (62 mile) reach of Black River," the researchers wrote.

The discovery makes the bald cypress the oldest wetland species and the fifth-oldest overall non-clonal tree species on the planet, with the oldest being the Great Basin bristlecone pine.

Found in the White Mountains of California, the oldest known specimen is around 5,000 years old.

Pffft.... science schmience, whenever I am out under the canopy and I want to know how old a tree is, I just give it a hug and ask it. Made the mistake in asking an elderly cacti once in the desert how old she was.... BOY... was she a grumpy one, I was pulling out needles for days. Jeez, just because you are thirsty, don't take it out on me..

But there is different varieties of fly catchers in every Piney Woods. We have sundews. It actually burns really well and dry swamp fires are the most dangerous to fight because the fire goes subsurface, gets into the root and moss system and either pops up behind you or causes the swamp "floor" to collapse. All junipers do have a nice smell when they burn though.